Have Your Beliefs Evolved Over Time?

[SalixIncendium]

Do you still believe what you were raised as a child to believe?

If so, what captivated you about your beliefs and led you to stay the course?

If not, what were you told to believe (if anything) and what led you astray?

Did you go directly from what you were told to believe to what you currently believe or was there a process? If there was a process, please feel free to share.

Do you anticipate any further changes to your belief structure or are you locked in for the long haul? Why?

Most importantly, is @Sunstone correct in his assessment of my fashion sense or are you envious of my wardrobe?

 

[janesix]

Do you still believe what you were raised as a child to believe?

If so, what captivated you about your beliefs and led you to stay the course?

If not, what were you told to believe (if anything) and what led you astray?

Did you go directly from what you were told to believe to what you currently believe or was there a process? If there was a process, please feel free to share.

Do you anticipate any further changes to your belief structure or are you locked in for the long haul? Why?

Most importantly, is @Sunstone correct in his assessment of my fashion sense or are you envious of my wardrobe?

I was raised an atheist. Now I'm a theist (from age 37 on). I change my beliefs due to religious experiences. I am not locked into my beliefs, they are evolving.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I was raised an atheist. Now I'm a theist (from age 37 on). I change my beliefs due to religious experiences. I am not locked into my beliefs, they are evolving.

May I ask what brought you from atheism to theism? I'd love for you to share your experiences that led you to your current path.

 

[janesix]

May I ask what brought you from atheism to theism? I'd love for you to share your experiences that led you to your current path.

I was meditating and began to have "spiritual" or "religious" experiences. Opening of my chakras. God brought me into his consciousness. These things started happening about a month after I started meditating. I started also having synchronicities,and seeing certain numbers, like 108 and 432. I got intensly interested in topics like the precession of the equinoxes, geometry, numbers, etc.

 

[exchemist]

Do you still believe what you were raised as a child to believe?

If so, what captivated you about your beliefs and led you to stay the course?

If not, what were you told to believe (if anything) and what led you astray?

Did you go directly from what you were told to believe to what you currently believe or was there a process? If there was a process, please feel free to share.

Do you anticipate any further changes to your belief structure or are you locked in for the long haul? Why?

Most importantly, is @Sunstone correct in his assessment of my fashion sense or are you envious of my wardrobe?

Yes. I was brought up Catholic, remained Catholic through my studies for my chemistry degree but then gradually drifted away to become more or less agnostic, though with considerable respect and appreciation for the Catholic church. It was not science that gave me doubts but firstly the church's attitude to sex and then, more seriously, my experiences travelling on business to other cultures and my 4 years in the Middle East. It seemed absurd that everyone thinks they are right and everyone else is wrong, and there is no objective means of determining who, if any of them, is more right than the others.

I now view religion as a guide for living, inspired by the literary images in scripture and the example and teaching of Christ, brought to life for people through traditions, ritual and great art. I still go to mass every Sunday and find the observance helpful to me. My views may change again, I suppose.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Do you still believe what you were raised as a child to believe?

If so, what captivated you about your beliefs and led you to stay the course?

If not, what were you told to believe (if anything) and what led you astray?

Did you go directly from what you were told to believe to what you currently believe or was there a process? If there was a process, please feel free to share.

Do you anticipate any further changes to your belief structure or are you locked in for the long haul? Why?

Most importantly, is @Sunstone correct in his assessment of my fashion sense or are you envious of my wardrobe?

1) No. I not was raised to particularly believe in anything, with the possible exception of my own (and others') ability to learn more. I was, by and large, free to form my own understanding and make my own choices...

2 & 3) So, in the sense that I was raised to believe that I and others could learn, Yes I have stayed the course...

4) My beliefs have changed over time, as I have experienced and learned things. It's been a process of being open to experiences and other points of view, and of questioning what I know and think I know...and what others say they know...Not that it's been smooth, more like punctuated equilibrium...

5) Yes, I expect that my beliefs will continue to change, as I continue to experience and learn.

6 & 7) Yes.

 

[GoodbyeDave]

I was raised a Christian, but my beliefs were undermined by studying the Bible.

 

[YmirGF]

My beliefs are in a perpetual state of change based on new data coming into my experience.

 

[Twilight Hue]

It got to a point where I simply thought it would be best to start over again. So I went back to the point before the idea of theism was introduced in my life. This time finding out for myself, rather than have somebody attempt to introduce ideas and concepts saying they're true for one reason or another.

 

[Orbit]

I was raised Presbyterian and went through the deconversion process at age 47. I'm now agnostic, with a penchant for meditation.

 

[Apologes]

At their core, my beliefs have not changed. I've always been a Christian and I still am.

They have, however, gone through a period of thorough evaluation and have, as a result, become more sophisticated than they were previously. I guess you could say they have changed in the sense that they've matured, but the basic beliefs remain the same.

 

[Dawnofhope]

Do you still believe what you were raised as a child to believe?

If so, what captivated you about your beliefs and led you to stay the course?

If not, what were you told to believe (if anything) and what led you astray?

Did you go directly from what you were told to believe to what you currently believe or was there a process? If there was a process, please feel free to share.

Do you anticipate any further changes to your belief structure or are you locked in for the long haul? Why?

Most importantly, is @Sunstone correct in his assessment of my fashion sense or are you envious of my wardrobe?

I grew up Christian and like many teenagers religion wasn’t too important so would best be described as agnostic. I spent five years in my 20s searching for meaning and truth including a period of daily meditation for 2 years. That led to a brief period of atheism followed by reconnecting with my Christian roots. I became a Baha’i aged 26 years as it was more embracing of other faiths. Nearly 30 years later I’m still a Baha’i and enjoy learning about different religions on RF. I recently joined the interfaith council in my city.

 

[shunyadragon]

My religious beliefs have indeed evolved and diversified over time. I began as raised primarily in the Roman Church and exposed to different churches.

I began studying Martial Arts as a teenager, and was exposed to Buddhism. In my high school years I began to intensely study the Roman Church and other religions, and spent a year studying the priesthood. After high school my preference of non temple Buddhism. I also became close to the Unitarian Universalists, which I still consider a strong rational and logical choice of belief for the contemporary world. Based on the long search I became a Baha'i, but everything is in pencil and of course I may change in the future,

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Do you still believe what you were raised as a child to believe?

Very fortunately, no. I was raised into a Southern Baptist church lifestyle, and who I was then I am no more. I was a serious Bible Thumper and Biblical Literalist, and described by the youth pastor's wife as the "ideal teenaged Christian" and "Super Christian." However, it was, to me, very toxic and it did a lot of long lasting damage. The world it seemed (from both a personal and religious perspective) was against me, and god was gonna do way worse to me if I even thought about "doing me." What really started to cause my "foundation of faith" to crumble was learning about new things and the world, including other religions. After a few years of homeschooling, I went back to public school for high school and learned things that didn't directly confirm the historical accuracy and validity of the Bible. In fact, some of contradicted the Bible, such as learning Gilgamesh happened way before Noah. I had seeds of knowledge planted into my foundation of my faith, and they took root and eventually shattered it. And my views continued to change, as after Christianity I picked up Neo-Paganism, and eventually, after logic and reason and logic thew glaring and uncompromising facts and realities that challenged it, and eventually I just outgrew the need for a god and afterlife. And if my views change, it's about as big of an "I don't know" as my chances of learning anything beyond that we're a bunch of confused apes who incomprehensibly minute specs in a universe that is far beyond our means and lifespan to travel. I'd say they probably wont, but I could take a traumatic blow to the head tomorrow, Or we may actually learn something. But, for now, I have better things to do. Like "worship" the Devil. And, to add further insult to the obnoxious **** I was, I've become more "Christ like" than I ever was as a Christian. I grew kind of fond of the peace, love, and other hippy stuff and ditched that "holier than thou" judgemental twat attitude.
My views have changed so much that it's too the point that the believer I was raised to be as a child that if I could meet the younger me it would be a seriously traumatizing experience for the me 15 years ago. Especially because the now me would enjoy literally scaring it all out me, making me really have to play the part up for that encounter to maximize the points I'm getting across to that wanker that I was.

 

[sayak83]

Do you still believe what you were raised as a child to believe?

If so, what captivated you about your beliefs and led you to stay the course?

If not, what were you told to believe (if anything) and what led you astray?

Did you go directly from what you were told to believe to what you currently believe or was there a process? If there was a process, please feel free to share.

Do you anticipate any further changes to your belief structure or are you locked in for the long haul? Why?

Most importantly, is @Sunstone correct in his assessment of my fashion sense or are you envious of my wardrobe?

I wasn't raised to believe in much of anything. In my nick of the Hindu woods, religious beliefs are not considered something necessary for a child to learn.

 

[MikeP87]

I was raised an atheist. Now I'm a theist (from age 37 on). I change my beliefs due to religious experiences. I am not locked into my beliefs, they are evolving.

I just joined and am learning the ropes. I'm under psychiatric care for schizophrenia meaning I take my meds. Excuse me if I make a mistake. I was raised Agnostic/Atheist, but have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. Baptist. I posted religious content on a schizophrenia forum and was banned for a week after being warned. My religion is more important to me than schizophrenia, so I joined this forum. I intend to leave the other forum after posting why when my ban is over. I didn't see how to start my own thread, so please excuse me for getting off topic

 

[osgart]

My core truth never ever changes. But most of my faiths, beliefs, and certainties do change quite a bit. So im in a constant flux. But i enjoy the journey. My current belief is that life is like a new born baby trying to find its way and its home and its freedom. And that if eternal life is out there, its not a knowable thing to us. The one thing i never ever give into is nihilism.

 

[Cooky]

Do you still believe what you were raised as a child to believe?

If so, what captivated you about your beliefs and led you to stay the course?

If not, what were you told to believe (if anything) and what led you astray?

Did you go directly from what you were told to believe to what you currently believe or was there a process? If there was a process, please feel free to share.

Do you anticipate any further changes to your belief structure or are you locked in for the long haul? Why?

Most importantly, is @Sunstone correct in his assessment of my fashion sense or are you envious of my wardrobe?

My beliefs have not evolved. Some have become more clarified, but that's about it.

...I don't know why this is.

 

[Cooky]

Very fortunately, no. I was raised into a Southern Baptist church lifestyle, and who I was then I am no more. I was a serious Bible Thumper and Biblical Literalist, and described by the youth pastor's wife as the "ideal teenaged Christian" and "Super Christian." However, it was, to me, very toxic and it did a lot of long lasting damage. The world it seemed (from both a personal and religious perspective) was against me, and god was gonna do way worse to me if I even thought about "doing me." What really started to cause my "foundation of faith" to crumble was learning about new things and the world, including other religions. After a few years of homeschooling, I went back to public school for high school and learned things that didn't directly confirm the historical accuracy and validity of the Bible. In fact, some of contradicted the Bible, such as learning Gilgamesh happened way before Noah. I had seeds of knowledge planted into my foundation of my faith, and they took root and eventually shattered it. And my views continued to change, as after Christianity I picked up Neo-Paganism, and eventually, after logic and reason and logic thew glaring and uncompromising facts and realities that challenged it, and eventually I just outgrew the need for a god and afterlife. And if my views change, it's about as big of an "I don't know" as my chances of learning anything beyond that we're a bunch of confused apes who incomprehensibly minute specs in a universe that is far beyond our means and lifespan to travel. I'd say they probably wont, but I could take a traumatic blow to the head tomorrow, Or we may actually learn something. But, for now, I have better things to do. Like "worship" the Devil. And, to add further insult to the obnoxious **** I was, I've become more "Christ like" than I ever was as a Christian. I grew kind of fond of the peace, love, and other hippy stuff and ditched that "holier than thou" judgemental twat attitude.
My views have changed so much that it's too the point that the believer I was raised to be as a child that if I could meet the younger me it would be a seriously traumatizing experience for the me 15 years ago. Especially because the now me would enjoy literally scaring it all out me, making me really have to play the part up for that encounter to maximize the points I'm getting across to that wanker that I was.

That seems very sad. That you consider your past self as a wanker.

I respect every part of myself, as being and doing exactly as I was designed to do by my DNA and the conscience that developed through it in it's time.

 

[Jumi]

I was raised an atheist. Now I'm a theist (from age 37 on). I change my beliefs due to religious experiences. I am not locked into my beliefs, they are evolving.

Sounds a bit like myself.